where do I buy glass

schoch79 · #1 01/10/2007, 08:54 PM

Hi everyone. Where can I find glass to build an aquarium with? I look on yahoo and all I find is sites with art glass and stained glass and stuff like that. Thanks.

msuzuki126 · #2 01/10/2007, 09:04 PM

Look in your local phone book for a glass shop; they will cut to your specifications. But why not buy a tank already put together?

otisbrown · #3 01/10/2007, 10:26 PM

What fun would that be??

Driftwood · #4 01/11/2007, 09:44 AM

lol, we have a REAL DIYer here!

Are you going to 'make' your water from oxygen and hydrogen too?

Have fun!

schoch79 · #5 01/11/2007, 06:50 PM

LOL. Well I have a stand that I purposely made oversized for a 10 gallon with room for some other stuff and now I want to make a custom tank that will fit the stand perfectly. And then I also want to make a custom sump too. In home depot I find some precut glass panels but they are really thin so they won't work at all. Well, if anyone else can help that would be good too. The only things I can find in the phone book is auto glass places.

otisbrown · #6 01/11/2007, 07:45 PM

I just did a search on yp.yahoo.com for flat glass and there are some. Here is the link HTHhttp://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypResults.py?...sAmAFJWNkc1Q--

suprisingly there are not that many listed in portland.

schoch79 · #7 01/11/2007, 08:00 PM

Thank you much. I didn't see those when I did my searching. LOL guess I was looking in the wrong place.

indianafishkeeper · #8 01/11/2007, 11:24 PM

I buy my glass up to 1/4" from auto glass places. But even if your local auto glass seller doesn't have it, chances are they might know where to direct you.

beerguy · #9 01/12/2007, 12:47 AM

.

BeanAnimal · #10 01/12/2007, 12:49 AM

Portland is a city... it likely has dozens of glass shops. Try the big paper thing they call the "yellow pages". Look under the heading "glass"....

Good luck

yeame · #11 01/12/2007, 01:51 PM

be very carefull buying glass most household glass is lead glass and it will leatch into your system

BeanAnimal · #12 01/12/2007, 02:14 PM

heh?

With all due respect yeame... most "household" glass is NOT leaded glass.

Leaded glass contains lead oxide. It is used to help the reflective index of glass and is used in some CRT tubes, military applications, and of course stained glass.

Cut lead glass is also known as "leaded crystal" and using it is not a problem. There is a trace amount of lead that can leach into alchohol stored in such crystal decanters for long periods of time, and there is MUCH debate about this.

I assure you that most "household" glass is not leaded, nor is most "commercial" gerlass.

Even if it was, the surface area, gas exchange, water changes, etc would certainly make this a moot point. There is a big difference between a leaded crystal decanter and a fish tank.

yeame · #13 01/12/2007, 08:24 PM

BeanAnimal do you work with glass on a regular basis and do you where gloves you do know lead gutters is why the roman empire fell it made them all go nuts

schoch79 where ever you go ask for iron base glass (starfire) it realy isnt that expensive about double green glass but much much better!

BeanAnimal · #14 01/12/2007, 10:02 PM

One does not need to work with glass to know about it or the different types and uses of glass yeame. Standard plate glass is not leaded glass, it is that simple.

The roman empire fell for many reasons and that is far beyond the scope of this thread or the subject at hand. The debate certainly exisits, but there is also a LOT of proof that the romans were VERY aware of lead poisoning and took many precautions against it. There is also a lot of nonsense about the subject that is propogated in arenas just like this. We can leave it at that.

Gloves? No I do not put gloves on before I touch glass. I have spent many an hour with a beer bottle in my hand with no gloves.

You will absorb more lead from the food you eat and the water you drink than you will from licking your leaded crystal.

Many types of ceramic glazes are high in lead content. For that matter many of the original fiestware colors were also fairly radioactive. In some cases (by the account of some researchers) enough to give frequent tea drinkers lip cancer. Be more concerned about your china made pasts dish and dollar store coffee mugs.

Secondly, all glass (for the most part) has iron in it. The iron is in the form of iron oxide found in the sand used to make the glass. "Starfire" is a brand name of "LOW IRON" glass that has undergone several extra steps to remove the impurities in the silica used to make the glass. None of it is "Iron based" and the good stuff has less iron than normal window glass.

I can provide you with many sources for information if you want it. A good start would be the wikapedia... or the glass councils website. A google search for "roman lead poisoning" will yield a months worth of reading, much of it with references.

Bean